Light's Darkness
by Werewolf of Suburbia
Summary: The Trio, Ginny, Luna, Draco, Seamus and Dean, plus Amber, find themselves on a different plane, and taking courses at the famed Academy. Can they survive, and will they make it back to their own plane in time to defeat Voldemort and his Death Eaters?
1. Welcome Home?

Disclaimer: I hate college. Why am I in college again? I want a million dollars so I can be schooled whenever I want...which will be never. And no, I don't own Harry Potter. Why can't I have wings...

* * *

Amber looked around her calmly, taking in the rather rustic village on whose outskirts she and the others had appeared on, the natural woods surrounding them, filled with the simple noises of bird call, and various herbivores trying to eat lunch without the consequence of becoming such for the local predators.

From the looks of things, the place seemed not all that advanced, like she and the group had traveled back in time. However, advanced was a subjective term, and Amber was well aware that even the most objective-seeming of terms was truly subjective in nature and use. Just because it LOOKED like something from the Middle Ages did not mean that they weren't advanced. It may just be a different sort of advanced.

What the odd girl couldn't have possibly known was just how right she was. She came from a place not overly advanced, despite its appearances. This was because, for all it's advances in magic, and the advanced technology the non-magic half of their culture invented and used, Amber and her people, magic or not, were not aware of what everyone here, at least, were.

There were many planes of existence on the planet known as Earth, each as unique as the last. This place, this little village, was on one such plane. Amber and her companions were native to another. While all planes had magic to it, sometimes it was inert, while at others it was visible, normally in people with the capability of wielding and using it. The magic, inert or otherwise, was the only common trait that ran through all planes. The rest was totally different, the difference coming from the peoples inhabiting that particular plane and their actions throughout the time that runs through each.

This is why Amber's plane was not seen as overly advanced. Unlike other planes—like this one, although the group didn't know it yet—the plane she and the others came from did not know of the planes. Even the magic cultures that inhabited their plane thought of "different dimensions", and even then, those were myth themselves.

Nearly every other plane knew of the others, something else that connected them, even if they couldn't see the other planes and were no where near advanced enough to travel between them. This plane was one, advanced enough to peek into other planes if they desired, some people even earning a living with studying the unique cultures the other planes offered and trying to advance the way to see into them just that little bit further. Others of the same field devoted their lives to trying to transcend the barrier, their hope being that once they had, they could actually visit and see these fascinating cultures up close and personal.

Amber and her friends were special, because unlike the others, no one of her "World", so to speak, even thought of such things as being more then fairy tales, and knew not that they had just done the impossible, no matter the plane, by transporting themselves to this one. This made them perfectly unaware that they weren't even capable of going home by any sort of means. They were prepared, once over shock, to figure out a way home in the instance that they traveled through time and any number of other things. Not this. Never this.

This was because going home after being blasted through time, while never simple itself, was easy because you were on the same plane. It was like moving from one country to the other. What Amber and her group did was similar to moving from Earth to Pluto. And without a rocket, they were now stuck and incapable of getting home.

Turning to her fellow travelers, Amber felt a strong desire to bash her head against something hard, like a rock wall. It would appear that the group had gotten over their shock, at least to the point of seeing who else had come with them, and, upon recognizing each other, had started the "Blame Game"—which had now turned into a full-fledged fight between them.

Amber could understand how easy it was for this to become so, because she knew that, while some of them were friends with each other, the others of the little group were people they considered only a few levels short of their Mortal Enemy. Amber hadn't been particularly supportive of the idea to start with. However, THIS, in her book, took the cake—and the ice cream along with it.

"You would think that the first thought one has after been mysteriously transported to an unrecognizable place is to find out where we are, and if our most precious valuables traveled with us…NOT whose is at fault and the hex that is appropriate for such an action." Amber's voice, while by no means yelling, was still loud enough to be heard by the others, who stopped so fast it was astounding.

Or would've been if Amber had been anyone else.

Amber gave the others a stern glare that their Transfiguration teacher, Professor McGonagall, would've been proud of. It had the same effects, as everyone shuffled their feet and hung their heads in ashamed guilt.

"Now, while you all were choosing to act like a group of two-year-olds, I have managed to determine that the only civilization to be found in the village directly around us. Outside of the village, we are surrounded by forest. While I do not recognize any plants, that is not overtly surprising, as my strength comes from animals, not plants. All of them seem off, but I'm not too concerned right now, because everything is off. And this, to me, is a good sign, because we have just been transported to a place unknown by a force even more unknown."

Everyone exchanged startled glances at this, as what had just recently happened finally impacted them. They had all been in different locations at the time, miles apart even, and yet here they all were now as if they had all just come from the same broom store. For that matter, they had no clue where they were or even less of a clue how they got there. None of them could Apparate, they hadn't used Portkey or Floo, and no one had cursed them.

Just what was going on?

"My thought is to head into the village. While we have never seen it before, and will no doubt find ourselves in the midst of strangers, it is better then nothing, especially if the townspeople are human and can tell us where we are, if nothing more. If anyone has a better idea?"

No one said anything, and seemed to more or less brace themselves for the oncoming shocks the little village held for them, as it must. Amber nodded.

"Then it is agreed. Let us go."

And so they went.

* * *

Alarms ringing loudly throughout Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, as well as similar alarms ringing out through various other locations, alerted a good many people of the problem before anything else.

In Hogwarts, Headmaster Dumbledore rushed towards his office with a speed and flexibility that spoke of a younger man then he. He was followed by his ever faithful staff, Potions Master Snape and Deputy Headmistress McGonagall keeping on his heels while the other followed on theirs.

At Malfoy manner, Lucius was rushing towards a very special room, Narcissa meeting him there, banging the door open without a thought. What few house-elves they ran across on the way instantly squeaked and vanished the minute they caught sight of the adults.

Molly was beside herself as she noticed, thanks to a very special clock, the missing members of the household known affectionately as the "Burrow". Her scream of despair brought the other occupants of the house running. Their tears of worry and slight sorrow mingled with hers as they took notice of the problem.

Dumbledore practically screamed the password to his office, which allowed for them to bypass its gargoyle guardian without any fuss whatsoever. Almost immediately, the teachers reached the man's office, where it became apparent the source of the noise.

Several various instruments of Dumbledore's were shrieking at the top of their non-existent lungs, while the Headmaster's phoenix, Fawkes, added to the noise with loud mournful cries that not even Albus had ever heard before. The other teachers were astounded and wondered just what had set off the instruments.

It took a full hour before the noise was silenced, and the effects of it made the sudden silence deafening and slightly creepy.

"Albus?" Minerva's voice did not so much as request an explanation as demand one.

"Those alarms are tied to the students. It would seem as some of them have disappeared. And the magic that tied the instruments to them seems to have been severed, something that should not happen unless something drastic has occurred."

"Are they…?" Hooch didn't dare ask aloud of the students were dead, which is why the bond had been severed.

"No. The alarms would've been much, much louder of death had been the cause for the destruction of the tie. However, the disappearance seems to be far more then just having been kidnapped by Death Eaters and held captive in Azkaban."

"Which students have gone missing?" asked Snape with growing dread. "And is there anything to be done to find them?"

"The answer to the last question is no, or the instruments would've already done that for us. As for the first, they are Harry Potter, Ron and Ginny Weasley, Hermione Granger, Draco Malfoy, Seamus Finnegan, Dean Thomas, Luna Lovegood, and Amber Hawkstar."

"But what happened?" asked Sinistra.

"I wish I knew. I really wish I knew." was the response. No one got to say anything else about it because at that moment, the fire flared green, and the hysterical Molly was practically yelling at Dumbledore about how Ron's and Ginny's hands had moved from "Home" to "Lost". A frantic letter from Moody, who was watching Harry at his relatives' house, followed shortly thereafter.

"Amber would be severely disappointed in all of you, I have to say." It was, surprisingly, the Sorting Hat that brought some order to the room. "I can see, now, why she thought that the whole school, and indeed, the whole wizarding world, was utterly moronic."

"I often wondered why she seemed to go about her day looking like she constantly wanted to bash her head into the nearest wall." Severus mused as everyone settled down to stare curiously at the Hat.

"Yes. As far as Amber was concerned, your actions a minute ago would have her actually giving in to the temptation for once. Merlin, but you were all acting like a bunch of three-year-olds fighting over the last cookie in the cookie jar, as the saying goes. And considering that the entire wizarding population tend to act like this at the slightest upset, it's no wonder she thought wizards and witches in general were idiots."

"Do you know what's going on, then?" asked Dumbledore hopefully.

"If I did, I wouldn't tell you. There is more to this then you would care to see, and it is not my place to map out another's destiny for your viewing pleasure. All I know is that they'll eventually come back, if only because they have ties yet to this world."

And with that, the Hat fell silent, and refused to answer anything else. Fawkes chirped sadly. He had finally calmed down, but he still seemed overly depressed about what was going on. It was as of he missed the students personally, and missed them a way a lover would miss their other. Badly.

The teachers exchanged glances. Would the Hat's prediction ring true? And just what was going on anyway? They had no way of answering, and just simply sat in silence.

And they stayed that way for a long, long time.

* * *

Amber arched an eyebrow at the way people created the signs hanging over their shops. The words were utter nonsense to the group, suggesting that they had left England, and perhaps even Europe for that matter. Mostly, they were using the rather descriptive pictures that went with the words to identify buildings.

They were midway through town when they finally spotted a building that could possibly be of use to them. The sign labeled it as a "Majub." That meant nothing to the group, however, as they managed to guess based on the picture that it was an inn. Exchanging glances, the group headed inside, uncertain as to what lay behind the large wooden door for them, or the future.

The inn was rather reminiscent of the Leaky Cauldron, and the handful of patrons within it froze and stared at them as the group of teenagers made their way inside. Mutterings began as they went up towards the bar, intent on the obvious innkeeper standing behind it. The language the patrons spoke, much like the language on the signs, was utterly foreign, and in the personal opinion of most of the group, utterly ridiculous.

The innkeeper, for his part, was ruffling through a large book none of the group had seen the first time 'round, muttering to himself in his native language as he did so. Amber wondered just what it was the man was looking for. She dare not ask, knowing that, even if he understood her, which was unlikely, she wouldn't understand him anyway.

A young woman sitting at the bar seemed to be trying to help him, although he didn't seem overly pleased with the idea, as the mumblings seemed to be mainly about the beautiful lady, and he kept shooting her dirty looks. Amber decided to ignore the by-play, instead being grateful that these people were at least human.

Finally, a shout that the group expected would've translated as "Eureka!!" or something similar was given by the woman, followed by a smug smirk shot to the even more disgruntled innkeeper. The group managed, just barely, to put a lid on their amused sniggers and snorts.

The woman beckoned them with a finger, raising the proverbial red flag for the entire group, who followed orders warily. Once they had stopped what they had deemed a safe enough distance away, they stood and waited.

The woman spoke, but she seemed to know that they wouldn't understand her words, because the inflection was on her tone, which was soft, gentle, and reassuring. As she talked, she and the innkeepers waved their hands in what appeared to be a complicated pattern over the whole group.

The magic the group could feel effecting them was rather immense, and they were all surprised to be hit with it. However, they understood a minute later when the woman spoke and they understood her.

"My name is Uae. Welcome to the town of Xeeto. And from where do you hail?" Sky blue eyes stared questioningly at the group.

"England." Draco replied. The woman exchanged confused glances with the innkeeper, who ran a hand thorough his thinning sand-colored hair.

"What is this En-ga-land?" Uae asked, sounding the word out.

"I don't think I can answer, because I've never heard of this place anymore then you have our home." replied Amber, trying and failing to come up with a reason for why England didn't seem to exist.

"Great Hiser! They must have traveled between!" the innkeeper cried out in shock. The patrons froze.

"Traveled between?" asked Hermione, looking confused.

"They don't know! Oh Hiser, but they don't know!!" another patron breathed in stunned shock.

Seeing their group looking beyond lost, Uae decided to take pity on them. "You have traveled between planes."

"Planes?" echoed Ron dumbly.

"Like dimensions! We've traveled from one world to the next!" Amber exclaimed, eyes widening. This was serious, and not just because they had traveled between planes, but because she and her fellows had no clue that the planes existed at all until now.

The rest of the group stared at Amber dumbly for a few minutes before they reacted. Most of them decided that the best course of action at learning this information was to faint.

So they did.

Amber stared at them in amusement, before turning towards Uae. "What does this mean for us now? We are in school, and it is quite obvious that the school doesn't exist here, and we have no idea how to train ourselves, and does magic training even exist here?"

"Yes. While you were discussing the planes, which I can safely assume, by your friends' reactions your world doesn't know about them, I was discussing things with my husband here, Benu. He runs the inn here. He has agreed with me that you are magic, if nothing else, and you should be taken to see the Gift Seer and perhaps enrolled in the Academy, if you are able."

"But how will we pay for this stuff? And what are you talking about, for that matter?"

"Well, seeing as you have no idea about the planes, it is safe to assume you know not how you traveled from one to another. This also makes it safe to assume that you little trip to here wasn't so much as planned as sprung on you by higher powers you have no control over. Benu and I have talked, and we decided that, if you accept our offer, we'll pay your way until you can either do so yourself, or you travel back to your dimension. Repayment on your side will be discussed in terms of grades at school, and whatever else we can agree on as a group later on in life. How does that sound?"

"I thank you for your generosity. I would be willing to accept, but you'll have to ask the others yourself, because I dare not speak for all of them. We were not the best of friends back home, and I don't think they'll be happy if I answered for them."

"Right. I'll ask them then, but first you require a bit of an explanation. The Gift Seer is a specially empowered person, one or two each generation, that people take their children to see when they turn about 3 or so. The Gift Seer will then read them to see just which special abilities, if any, exist in the child. This also proves a record for schools to use so they know which subjects, outside the basics everyone takes, to offer their students."

"And the Academy?"

"It is the school of choice for many people, especially here in Xeeto. Although, the people here might just choose it because it's located at the top of the hill just on the other side of town." Uae smirked at the girl, who sniggered.

At this point, Benu poked his nose into the conversation, as the others began to regain consciousness. After getting over the shock, again, the group began getting into groups, mainly separated by House, Amber noted with amusement, and discussing the offer. Amber's amusement increased when they realized what Amber had known when she first heard the offer—they really had no choice if they didn't want to be on the streets.

"So they are accepting our offer then?" Benu asked of his wife, who nodded.

"Seems so. Do you wish to accompany us to the Seer?"

"Seer?" asked Hermione with a disgusted snort.

"Wrong kind, Hermione. This is the kind that can see our auras, if nothing else, and tell our new guardians, as well as the people up at the school they have here, just what we can do. It's a way for the school to better know which courses to offer their students outside of basics seeing as everyone has a wide range of talent and everyone is different. Benu and Uae are also going to fund our schooling till we can pay them back with something better then good grades, although it will have to be agreed on by all of us first."

"Oh, well then. Lead the way." said Harry, blinking.

At the couple's confused look, Dean explained. "In our plane, Seers are people who can see the future, but that is extremely iffy at best, and Hermione here doesn't put much faith in it at all."

They nodded in understanding, and the group fell silent, the students becoming nervous at the idea of being told what their gifts were. What if they were weak or stupid? Amber didn't look so much as nervous as excited, although it was hard to tell because her face was blank—something she had picked up from her fellow Slytherins. However, unlike her fellow Slytherin, Draco, she was doing a superb job at hiding all her emotions.

"Well, here we are. The seer's name is Spau, and she is a very nice lady. Go in one at a time, tell her about your traveling the planes, and ask her to read you because Uae and Benu are going to be sending you to the Academy. Okay, can you handle that? Who's going first?" Uae instructed.

Amber went first, eyes glinting, and disappeared through the door after receiving permission to enter. The others just waited outside nervously, wondering what awaited them behind the oak door that separated their future from the one who could See it.

And they would forever tell anyone who cared to listen that it was the most nerve-wrecking experience they would ever experience, hands down.

But they would never find themselves disappointed with it.

* * *

Don't ask. Seriously. I just remembered a fic I read once where Harry went to a different plane or dimension or whatever, and decided to do my version. For Laura Sedai, if you read this, I hope you notice that Amber is different this time, and she will continue to be so. I've decided to follow your advice with this one, although I'm still tweaking it my way. $Grins$. Don't ya just love me?

I've decided that, if it is needed, which it probably will be for the first few chapters, I will provide a guide so you can speak the names properly.

Here is the first:

Uae--U-A

Benu--Ben-U

Xeeto--X-e-tow

Spau--SPA-u

Majub--MA-jub

Hope that helps ;


	2. Academy's Return

Spau was indeed a nice lady, slightly shorter then average with blue eyes and red-brown hair cut short at the shoulders. As Dean went in and glanced her over, he found himself relaxing in the woman's presence. Spau offered the English-African wizard a seat, and Dean nearly drowned in it. Dean liked it. He vowed to find one just like it when he had his own place.

"So, are you the last of your group to come, or are there still others?" she started.

"Seamus and Draco still have to go through, but that's all." Dean answered. Spau nodded acceptance of this answer.

"And you are of another world, yes? Like the young girl with strange gifts told me?"

"If you mean Amber, then yes, I am."

"Very well. Let's get started. I shall start with your aura."

For a seemingly long time, Dean sat in utter silence as the woman stared at him, and seemed to stare through him. He had no idea just what she was seeing, and wondered what it was like to be a Gift Seer. He also wondered what else she would have him do if she was simply starting on his aura.

"Very good. You're a powerful boy, and are connected to ancient magicks long forgotten by both your world and ours. Some slight Reading ability, but not enough to be a true Reader, like the blonde girl with large eyes."

Spau had Dean look over several various things, and asked of him which enchanted objects he felt drawn to. She examined his wand, promptly told him that he was to learn how to get along without it, and did a few various other things. Dean wondered just what all this had to do with anything.

Dean was dismissed after a half-hour, which was the time it took for the others as well, with the knowledge that he had a slight Inner Eye,—as Trelawney had called it—the necessary magic required for learning ancient African magic, and wandless magic, amongst other things.

As he headed out to the others waiting—most of them looking desperate to discuss their talents, but politely curbing the urge until everyone could join—and sent Seamus in, he wondered just what exactly awaited him now.

Make no mistake; Dean was an intelligent young man. He understood that he had just taken a very important first step to a brand new life in a brand new world. For all that he had an Inner Eye, he still couldn't tell the future, and he wondered just what would happen now. And what about after graduation from the Academy?—whatever that was.

And the more pressing questions on Dean's mind; what of the folks back home? Had they noticed us missing yet? Were they worried?

And the biggest one of them all—would they be able to go home? At all?

Dean sighed as he shook his head, attempting to rid it of all the questions. After all, it did no good to worry about that which cannot be changed. And the future was something that defiantly did not bode worrying over—Dean would just have to cross that bridge when he came to it, not sooner or later.

So, he instead turned his attention towards where Draco was coming out of the Seer's house, face thoughtful as he no doubt went over his talents. He eagerly joined in on the conversations about everyone's gifts, trading stories with his best friend, Seamus.

Let the future come. They would meet it in the way they knew best, be that Gryffindor courage, or Slytherin ambition. Or, in the case of Luna, Ravenclaw wit.

* * *

The Academy started in about two weeks. Until then, the group lived with Uae and Benu in their house above the inn. Uae took them to the school's Headmaster, a man named Vietu, and explained to him what was going on. He easily accepted this, and after collecting the written records from Spau, helped the group hash out their schedules.

It wasn't hard, although the 9 students had no clue what any of the classes were. The three adults were very helpful, and gave descriptions, which—much to their relief—allowed the students to substitute their names for the names they were more familiar with.

As such, Battle Basics became DADA, Enchanting became Charms, and Medicine and Poison became Potions. These three classes, amongst others, were basic classes. Most of the Gryffindors didn't want to take it—their experience with Potions was less then pleasant thanks to Snape—Draco was looking forward to it, and Amber and Luna really didn't care one way or the other.

On top of these classes, the others had their electives, chosen based on their talents. All of them were taking Transformation—Animagus and the like—while Dean and Luna were enrolled into Reading classes—Divination. Ron, Harry and Hermione had different Elemental classes; Harry had Air and Fire, as did Ron, and Hermione had Water and Earth.

Draco was enrolled into Shadow Arts classes, along with Necromancy. The Gryffindors were wary about both of these classes on the blonde's part, but said nothing. Seamus was enrolled in languages, and Runes. All of them were enrolled in Wandless.

Amber's classes were totally secret, although how that was accomplished when everyone was there and going over it was beyond even her. For the most part, she was content to simply sit and listen to descriptions of the classes, and quietly checked off the ones she wanted on the class list she had been provided. Everyone tried to get a glimpse of her classes, but Amber just simply handed over the paper to Vietu, and smirked at them.

They glared at her, and tried to pry her choices out of her, to no avail. Amber, it appeared, wasn't in Slytherin for nothing. If nothing else, she could keep a secret like none other but a Slytherin. Maybe even like Salazar himself.

Afterwards, a tour of the school followed, as well as a Sorting of sorts. Most students were placed into different dorms, although the classes had people from every dorm in it. Their sorting process was far different from the Hat, though.

For one, they had to stand, and place their hands on top of a globe made of a material the group had never seen before. It looked like it was made of diamonds and emeralds and all matter of precious gems. It was smoothed, rather then faceted, and gleamed black when not in use. This was known as the Stratum Ball, or just the Ball for short.

This time, Harry went first, and was instructed to place his hands at what would be approximately east and west, had the Ball points. Harry wasn't exactly willing, but did as told. He was understandably wary of an object so magically powerful that he could feel it a mile off.

The ball glowed white for a minute, a white so bright that everyone had to turn away or risk being blinded. When they felt it safe to open their eyes again, they found Harry holding an emerald green and sapphire blue globe.

This, apparently, meant that Harry was in the Dravidian dorms. He was joined by most of the Gryffindors. The exceptions being Hermione, who went into Sagaci dorms with Luna and Dean, who went into the Tory dorms. Hermione and Luna made the Ball glow purple and navy blue, while Dean's colors came up as orange and yellow.

Draco's ball came out black and grey, indicating Penumb dorms. Amber went into Aspberg dorms. Her colors were pink and sky blue.

"Well, that's rather interesting. Why the color schemes?" she asked once everyone had been sorted.

"Each House had a noble leader to it, and these leaders were allowed to choose the color schemes and mascot animal for their houses. They are of little importance save in the school sports."

"Much like the Houses should be back home. I mean, really. Quidditch is alright, but do we really need house points?" she muttered in English. The others stared at her, before coloring lightly.

Vietu handed them each a parchment list, and told them to have the books by the time school started up again. It turned out to be their booklists. He then bid them all goodbye, informing them that they would find their rooms at the beginning of term, and lead them out. Uae and Benu took them to tour their new home for heaven only knows how long.

It was planned to get the books next week, and this week would be spent more or less settling in. The group got to know each other better, figuring it wouldn't hurt if they were sharing dorms and rooms, and decided to pretend that Hogwarts didn't happen. They would begin anew.

And they would come out of all this far closer then when they went in.

* * *

Two weeks later…

"Welcome back students! I have a few announcements to make before we dive into our food. All beginners please note the rule book on your bedside table. You are to read it and familiarize yourself with its contents, as these are the standard operating procedures here. The next important announcement is that we have 9 transfer students."

The older students began muttering to themselves at this. Vietu cleared his throat loudly and they died instantly.

"Thank you. I would like you to please welcome to Dravidian dorm Harry Potter, Ron and Ginny Weasley, and Seamus Finnegan."

Applause filled the dining hall as the mentioned parties came and joined their new dorm mates.

"Please also welcome Hermione Granger and Luna Lovegood into Sagaci dorms, Dean Thomas into Tory dorms, Draco Malfoy into Penumb dorms and, finally, Amber Hawkstar into Aspberg dorms."

More polite applause filled the eating hall as the others also took seats, looking somewhat uncertain. Particularly the last three, as they were on their own.

"Now I would like for you to please make their transition into Academy life as pleasant as possible, as this is more new for them then normal. This is because they have somehow unintentionally managed to cross the borders from their plane into ours. That said, they have no clue how much of anything works here."

Everyone gaped at the new students, who blushed and bowed their heads, before turning back to the Headmaster. Vietu smiled at them.

"Quite. They have been unofficially adopted by Benu and his wife while here in this plane, and will need to adapt to quite a bit. Please be courteous to them and help them out if you see them struggling. I'm sure they'll thank you for it, and who knows, you may make yourself a loyal friend out of the deal."

"With that out of the way, please enjoy the food, and once again, welcome to the Academy, and in the case of our plane travelers, our dimension." Vietu concluded his little welcoming speech and promptly began digging into his own meal, the staff and students following his example gladly.

At the table Hermione and Luna had sat at—the hall was set up to have little groups of about ten or so a table, rather then House tables like at Hogwarts—their tablemates were studying their new peers intently. Luna, being Luna, pretended to ignore the stares, while Hermione shifted uncomfortably.

"What is so fascinating about us?" she finally demanded. The others all looked away, sheepish.

"Sorry, it's just that people have been trying to cross the plane borders for centuries and no one has ever succeeded. You're the first to have actually crossed the borders, even if it was unintentionally." A girl with short mouse colored hair answered.

"Well, it isn't exactly a curse for us, to be truthful. This place is so fascinating! And your language and culture is so different from ours!" Hermione began to ramble, her eyes shining as she went on to describe what she had learned from reading the course books.

Ron and Harry were having their own conversation with their table mates.

"So, what are classes like here?" asked Ron around a mouth full of food. Harry rolled his eyes at his best mate. Ron really had no table manners.

"Well, it depends on the class and the instructor. Take Water elemental classes for example. They're normally very boring to anyone not a Water elemental, because you have to sit around and meditate and stuff. And Battle Basics is really dangerous as you go higher in the levels, because you start learning some really dangerous stuff." A brunette boy answered.

"Some of the stuff you learn in higher level Battle Basics has been used for bad purposes before. A lot of the really famous criminals all used them to torture and kill, as did their followers. But the lower levels learn skills that have no use in a true battle, except maybe for defense." A red headed girl added.

Harry nodded. "Sounds kinda like a class we had back home called Defense Against the Dark Arts. In order to learn the defense, some of the professors would show us the Dark Art in question, and many people use the Dark Arts to kill and torture."

"What is your plane like?" asked a blonde girl of Amber over at her table, looking truly interested. Everyone else leaned in to hear the answer as well.

"Well, we have two different sub classes for the human race, one that is magical and the other is not. The magical race is called the Wizarding race, and the non magical people are called muggles. Then there are the creatures that have human appearances. Vampires and Veela look like normal people, but vampires are really pale and have fangs, and Veela are unnaturally beautiful."

"Really? What other human like races are there in your plane?"

"Well, werewolves are normal humans most of the time, but during the full moon, they turn into blood thirsty wolves, a sort of canine like creature. They can't really control the wolf during the moon, though. And hags are like really ugly old women. Many muggles use it as an insult. And then there are the centaurs that have a human body waist up, but a horse body waist down."

Amber spent the rest of the night describing her home, while Harry and Ron continued asking about the classes and life in their new dimension in general. Hermione, once she had gotten over her eagerness to learn about her new home, happily traded stories about the different planes with her tablemates.

All of them went to bed that night feeling excited about the days to come, even as they missed the family back home more then anything.

* * *

On September First, 1995, the Hogwarts Express left at precisely 11 am like was normal. But the air on the train wasn't the normal excited anticipation of the returning students, and excited nervousness of the new first years. No, the air this time was rather depressed and slightly fearful as well.

By now the disappearances of the group of students, particularly Draco and Harry, had been splashed over the face of every magical newspaper for weeks. The search for the missing students, which also included Harry's friends, and several others, was still ongoing but everyone was losing hope more each day.

As the train took off for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, the parents all went home or wherever they were headed next and the platform emptied. Soon enough, there was no one on the platform, except a discarded page of an old Daily Prophet.

Therefore, no one was around to witness the strange occurrence that happened on the platform. With a flash of bright multi-colored light, a group of people appeared on the previously empty platform, looking rather disgruntled. They were all young adults, about 20 or 30 something, wearing what looked like some strange sort of armor.

The leader of the group was a young woman with strawberry blonde hair and gleaming blue-grey eyes reminiscent of a cloudy day. Her armor hugged her lithe frame without being skin tight, allowing for easy movement. It was colored dark pink with darker patches of blue.

Sharp eyes took in the platform quickly, a slight widening of the eyes being all the sign she gave at being shocked. She turned to her group.

"Guys, we're home!" she cried, but in a language that no one had heard before. It was a strange language that seemed to be rather guttural, but flowing at the same time.

The others all looked at the woman before quickly taking in the platform for themselves, and recognition flashed in all eight pair of eyes.

"But how…?" asked a man with shoulder length black hair and startling emerald eyes.

"I don't know, but let's not think about it now. We should get to Hogwarts to see what's going on." The woman replied. The others nodded agreement.

"How should we get to Hogwarts?" asked a red-haired woman with sharp brown eyes.

"Well, we could teleport, or follow the tracks in animal form. We could use the Elements to get us there as well. It's up to you, really." The woman answered with a shrug. She frowned as she seemed to realize something.

The next words to come out of her lips were in English. "We need to switch languages, too. Get reused to English again."

"Well, there go our secret conversations." pouted a tall sandy haired man.

"Seamus you prat, have you forgotten that we all have a new language to use for secret plottings?" the woman sounded amused. The man, Seamus, blushed sheepishly.

"Oh yeah."

"Well, how are we getting to Hogwarts?" asked the woman, turning her attention to the rest of the group.

"Elemental powers. We use our Element of choice and meet back up in front of the gates." answered the emerald eyed man. The woman nodded.

"Very well, I shall see you there." And without further ado, she seemed to float off into the air and away. The others followed after her, some seeming to float away themselves, others disappearing into balls made of flame or water and a couple vanishing into a ball made of vines and soil.

And the platform was empty once more.

* * *

A group of three adults landed in front of the giant boars that guarded the gates to Hogwarts. It was early evening, and the train would be pulling in any minute now. As they calmly landed on the ground, it seemed to rumble and a ball appeared from underneath the soil. It dispersed shortly, revealing another group member.

It didn't take long before flames danced into being, and the nearby lake began to bubble. Little spheres of water and fire appeared and began floating towards the group, before vanishing, reveling the others. The strange woman smiled at them, and nodded.

"Shall we then? We have much to do before the day ends, and the students shall being arriving shortly."

"Lead the way, and we'll follow." answered a red-headed man with laughing blue eyes.

Inside Hogwarts, the staff was sitting at the staff table, talking about the upcoming new year and the disappearance of the nine students. There was subtle betting going around as to how many first years would go where, and just what exactly the Weasley Twins would pull off, if anything.

When the doors to the Great Hall opened with a creak, everyone whipped around to see who was coming in, as it was still too early for students. Those members of staff that were also members of an underground organization known as the Order of the Phoenix had their wands trained on the nine people standing in the doorway instantly. The rest of the staff hesitantly followed.

"Who are you and what is your business here?" demanded Dumbledore imperiously, standing from his seat and flaring his aura. The group looked perfectly unimpressed.

"We are a team of expert fighters and healers, friends and family all, and dwellers of this place before. Or have you not gotten a close enough look at us to yet recognize us as we do you?" the woman in the lead answered, her cloudy grey eyes holding power.

"Must you stand on ceremony? Honestly, it's not like they're going to care, especially after they realize who we are." Another woman, this one with hard chocolate eyes and wavy brown hair, complained.

The woman in the lead turned to stare at her, smiling impishly. "We've had this conversation before, remember? Only you were trying to convince me to do exactly that. So why change your views?"

All she got in answer was a glare.

The woman turned back around to regard the professors, still standing with wands drawn. She arched an eyebrow, but seemed perfectly unconcerned about the weapons pointed in their direction.

"Allow me to introduce us properly, Albus Dumbledore. My name is Amber Hawkstar, and these are my companions, Harry Potter, Ron and Ginny Weasley, Seamus Finnegan, Luna Lovegood, Hermione Granger, Draco Malfoy and Dean Thomas. Together, we are known fondly and with hatred as the Lucet Force."

Several teachers dropped their wands, as they all gaped, even Albus. The group sniggered, before one of them, a blonde now identifiable as Draco, tilted his head to the side.

"The students are here." He said simply. "They will be coming through the doors shortly."

"Very well. Shall we head up to wait in your office Albus Dumbledore? You may take care of the feast and calling anyone else you deem necessary to the meeting you will undoubtedly wish to have." Amber's cool voice floated over everyone like a stream.

Albus had barely nodded his agreement before the group seemed to disappear entirely. Before the teachers could react, the doors opened again—when had they been shut?—to admit the second years and above. They all paused uncertainly when faced with the staff, before tentatively taking their seats. Soon, the pounding fist of Hagrid on the entrance doors alerted them all that the first years had arrived.

The school year had begun.

* * *

After the feast, which went far too slowly in the opinion of the staff, Albus headed off towards his office, sending Minerva after several various people, most of whom could be found in one place. Severus had the wonderful duty of fetching yet others, particularly the Malfoys and the muggle parents of Dean and Hermione.

He was extremely surprised when he got the "door" of his office, a stone gargoyle, to find the hallway in front of it utterly empty. He did not remember giving his password for his office, so where was the group of missing students? While it was possible to guess the password, surely they would've waited for him before heading in?

He found the students inside his office, lounging in beautifully conjured chairs, having what appeared to be a discussion in language Albus had never heard before in his life, which is saying something considering that he was over 120. Draco seemed to be arguing his point to Seamus and Luna, while Amber made comments here and there.

Hermione looked over at the gaping Headmaster and called out something in the strange language, causing Draco to freeze mid sentence and everyone to turn around and watch the wizard, who made his way to his desk.

Fawkes, Albus noted, had already made himself comfortable in Harry's lap, where the Boy-Who-Lived was absentmindedly stroking his plumage. His soft croons were now all the sound that was being made in the office. If their entrance to the school hadn't been enough proof, this would have been, as Fawkes would not have done that with an imposter.

Albus offered no words or even his customary lemon drops to the group, who watched him with amusement as they waited for the others to show up. He sat behind his desk and tried to regain control of his otherworldly calm, so that at least their guests wouldn't be stunned more then they already would be.

It proved to be a difficult, but not entirely impossible task. He had it back by the time Minerva stormed in, a large group of red-heads, a werewolf, a Grim and various other people on her heels. Severus followed shortly thereafter with a portkey trip with the Thomases and Grangers in tow, just as the Malfoys flooed in.

Every single guardian there gaped at the group that was supposedly their children, even though they didn't look it, mostly because they were all in their 20s and 30s, and their missing children were all only 16 at the best. The group just smirked.

"Hello, Mother, Father. It's a pleasure to see you again." Draco's cultured tones greeted his parents.

"Hi guys, what's been going on around here lately?" Ginny chirped at her family, while Ron waved happily next to her.

"Padfoot, long time no see! And Moony, my favorite elder wolf! I missed you guys!" Harry greeted jovially.

"What—how—why—when—?" spluttered Bill Weasley.

"Ah, that. Yes, well, this is what happens when we find ourselves dimension traveling to the whole 'nother plane on which time passes differently then it does here. We STILL can't figure out how we got there, but why is easy enough, since it allowed us to receive the training needed for the war." Dean said easily.

More gaping. Molly fainted, and Mrs. Finnegan looked ready to do so herself.

"Care to be a little less vague?" questioned Remus Lupin, aka Moony.

"No, not really. But if you insist, I suppose we could." Luna sighed.

"Well, we do. Please, full details?" questioned Charlie Weasley.

"Right, well it all started on summer's day when we were all just doing our thing…"

And so they explained.

* * *

After several hours of giving details to their families and teachers, the group decided to call it a night, as it was late and the families had a lot of new information to sort through. They promised to meet them all again promptly after breakfast tomorrow morning, and then vanished in a manner very similar to Apparating, which was supposedly impossible to do within school grounds.

Impossible, but evidently not enough to stop them.

The next morning was a lovely demonstration of their powers for Dumbledore, McGonagall and their various families, while the other teachers and students were busy with classes. The group decided to trust the head and co-head of Hogwarts and their kin with the very sensitive information of what they could and couldn't do.

Needless to say, when the demo was over, the group was again shocked.

Between their new skills in swords and guns and various other weapons, to their new found ability to fight hand-to-hand, and their magical talents, and the very power behind them, this group, while not exactly super-powered per se, was quite the team. Where Harry lacked talent in Reading, Luna and Dean made up for it. Where Draco was the only one with Necromancy talents, so too was Amber the only one with any sort of animal talents, not counting the snake-speech Harry accidentally stole from Voldemort as a baby.

It was enough to make their heads spin. After lunch, Dumbledore called the group to his office, this time without the parents. Only McGonagall was the other attendee of this meeting.

"You summoned, Headmaster?" asked Hermione calmly.

"Yes, for you see, we have a slight problem I was hoping you could fix. It seems that we lack a Defense teacher this year, and I have no idea who to bring into the position that would actually be able to do the job right. After seeing you this morning, would you like to co-teach Defense?"

Minerva stared at him, and he twinkled at her, before turning his attention to the group. They, for their part, were having a conversation in their second native tongue.

"What do you guys think? Shall we?" asked Harry.

"I don't see why not. It'll help the students in case Death Eaters attack them, and it no doubt WILL happen sooner or later." Seamus pointed out.

"Besides, it will be loads of fun! Think of all the payback we could get on the Slytherins for all those years of favoritism from Snape." Ron pointed out.

"And I could get back at the Gryffindors for all those blasted pranks they pulled on us." Draco agreed.

"Not to mention the fun we could have with our year mates, and Fred and George. They try pranking us or using us to get favors, and we'll show them just who we are." Ginny added.

"And who we are no longer. So, do we teach? All in favor say yi."

"Yi!" came the group response.

Amber nodded and turned back to the faintly amused looking Headmaster. "We will teach. Give us the rest of today to plan our classes, and plan to introduce us to the students tomorrow morning at breakfast. Agreed?"

"Of course, Ms. Hawkstar, of course. And Welcome, to the Hogwarts Staff, all of you."

"It promises to be tons of fun." Luna whispered to Dean.

The black boy could only nod his head in eager agreement.

* * *

Translations:

Vietu—V-To

Stratum—Strat-um

Dravidian—Dra-va-dian

Sagaci—Sa-ga-c

Tory—is pronounced like the word Tory, used during the American Revolution to describe spies loyal to the Crown

Penumb—P-num

Aspberg—Asp-Berg

Lucet—Lu-set. Latin for Light (at least, if my memory of Latin I classes is still properly intact)

Yi—Yee

Okay, explanation time. I am easily distracted, and somewhat busy as well. From 1-9pm Mon-Fri, I'm working. Sat and Sun I sleep in till at least 2 in the afternoon. Then, I usually get online, read stories, review stories and watch Youtube. This is because there are a lot of good stories out there that I have a tendency to give more of my attention to then my own, and I like watching videos on Youtube, like the videos of Jeff Dunham the comedian Ventriliquist. Then there is my newest quest to write every plotline I've ever had, or nearly every one, particulary in the Danny Phantom genre, and you have one giant mess and seemingly abandoned stories. Rest assured, I will never abandon these stories, but I WILL take forever to update, I can promise you that. I will try to be better, but I cannot say for absolute certainty that I will actually succeed.

Therefore, in honor of my 20th Birthday, yesterday (May 10th), please enjoy my updates that I have promised myself to see to, at least one for practically all my stories. I intend to see this promise through, especially since my work gives you birthday hoildays, giving ME a three-day weekend. If this is not the story you REALLY want to see updated, be paitent, as I will get to the others as I go along. Till then, let this hold you over. And enjoy!!

Werewolf


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